by Sandra Gulland | May 31, 2015 | Adventures of a Writing Life |
I was Mother-of-the-Bride last night: such a happy time! Needless to say, I’ve been just a bit preoccupied. Here, at least, are this week’s Sunday Sundries:
For writers …
• The only technique to learn something new. This applies to any passion, and especially to writing.
• Write a Plot Outline: The Infographic. This is great.
• What makes authors dress up like clowns? Kathy L. Patrick’s Pulpwood Queens Author Extravaganza. So much fun.
• Elevator Pitches. We all hate having to come up with a few sentences to convey the essence of the sprawling novel we’re writing, but I’m afraid it’s important. My agent recommended this CBC podcast, and I’m glad she did.
• What Makes a Hero: Joseph Cambell’s Seminal Monomyth Model for the Eleven Stages of the Hero’s Journey.
• Was this review helpful to you? Hahahaha. Although not so funny to authors. Even one one-star review drags down a book’s sales and upsets a book’s publisher.
For promoters …
• V is for Virtual Tour provides an informative description of a virtual (i.e. blog) tour from The Publishing Bones. (How to set up a blog tour is one of my most visited posts.)
For flâneurs through history …
• In and Out of Jane Austen’s Window: people used to walk everywhere.
• Laughing at French Smiles and Dentures. This made me laugh!
• The Cloister and Accounts Payable. In researching Mistress of the Sun, I learned that Cloister life was like a mini-world, and woman the capable managers.
For Napoleonistas …
• Pacino dreams of playing Napoleon. I’d love to see this.
• Bonaparte: 1769 – 1802, by Patrice Gueniffey (translated by Steven Rendall): a translation of the first in a new, prize-winning two-book biography of Napoleon.
• Tweetable Napoleon: a collection of his quotes: a page I’ve just set up on my website.
For readers …
• A memoir I’m relishing now: H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald. A woman falconer takes on the challenge of training a hawk as a way of overcoming grief. Fascinating, and beautifully written.
by Sandra Gulland | May 20, 2015 | Adventures of a Writing Life |
“Sundae Sundries” offer links to things on the Net that I have found especially of interest of late. It is intended to be posted every Sunday, but Life is now in pre-daughter-getting-married-mode, so routine has gone out the window. Enjoy!
Links on writing …
• What does “show, don’t tell” really mean? Sarah Selecky is a fine writer and teacher of writing. If you are a writer or aspire to be one, her website is well worth checking out, as are her classes. I subscribe to her emails on writing. Highly recommended!
Links of interest to us flâneurs through history …
• A treatise on landscape painting in water colours by UK artist David Cox (1783-1859) and others, published in 1813. This is a rare book, and one I wanted to find because Hortense de Beauharnais, the subject of the novel I am writing, is an artist. I was delighted to find it available for download on Internet Archive.
• Feeling Swinish: Or the Origins of “Pandemic.” This relates to a blog post I wrote: The use of quarantine to prevent the spread of deadly diseases in 18th century France.
Links for social historians …
• Gossip, Flattery, and Flirtation: The Art of Eighteenth-Century Letter Writing Irresistible! I have Richardson’s Familiar Letters on order.
• Defiant Dressing: What Joan of Arc Wore. Because anything to do with Joan of Arc is fascinating.
Links on life …
• I love the blog BrainPickings, and recently, in particular, this post: “How to Merge Money and Meaning: An Animated Field Guide to Finding Fulfilling Work in the Modern World.”
• Through this post I discovered the YouTube School of Life series “How to Live,” which the wonderful writer Alain de Botton is a significant part of. Well! I’m an Alain de Botton fan, so call me Interested. To sample their offerings, watch this short video: How to Find Fulfilling Work.
by Sandra Gulland | May 10, 2015 | Adventures of a Writing Life |
Happy Mother’s Day, one and all. This is my first “Sunday Sundries.” I come upon many links on the Net I want to share, and this is a way of doing so.
Links on writing …
• This short YouTube video on The Hero’s Journey is well worth watching. (Read this Brain Pickings blog post for more on Joseph Campbell’s story structure.)
• 10 top writing tips and the psychology behind them.
• How to Meditate When You’re Too Busy to Meditate, and Why You Should Care, a post written with writers in mind.
• 5 Things I’ve Learned from Writing a YA Novel, an essay I wrote for Writer Unboxed.
• The Terror of Last-Minute Revision: Confessions of an Editor-turned-Novelist, an essay for The Savvy Reader.
Links of interest to all us research nerds …
• Just for a smile: Scary hair towers.
• A wonderful historical blog: “All Things Georgian.”
Links for Napoleonatics …
• Madame Campan’s Academy, a play about Hortense, the subject of the YA novel I’m writing. The opening promotion goes like this:
[blackquote] You think your life is challenging? Imagine your stepfather is Napoleon Bonaparte!
That’s so good. (If only I had thought of it.)
• I love this movie of kids enacting the life of Napoleon.
